Witnesses describe horror of 'crazy' attack

"When I went up there was this black guy with a revolver and a kitchen knife, he had what looked like butcher’s tools and he had a little axe, to cut the bones, and two large knives and he said 'Move off the body’," she said

"He was in full control of his decisions. "I said 'Right now it is only you versus many people, you are going to lose, what would you like to do?' And he said 'I would like to stay and fight'."

Another eyewitness, identified only as James, told local radio station LBC the two assailants "were hacking at this poor guy".

"We thought they were trying to remove organs or something.

"These two guys were crazy, they just were not there, they were just animals."

In the footage of the aftermath of the attack, one of the attackers makes a number of political statements while the body of his victim lies in the road behind him.

Speaking in a London accent, the man, looking agitated and angry, said: "I apologise that women had to witness that, but in our lands our women have to see the same thing.

"You people will never be safe. Remove your government. They don't care about you."

"They were just animals," one eyewitness said.

"They then dragged the poor guy, he was obviously dead. There was no way a human could take that, what they did to him.

"They dragged him from the pavement and dumped his body in the middle of the road."

Eyewitness Michael Atley said there was blood all over the road.

"It's a scene out of a horror movie, to be honest," he said. "It's incredible, absolutely incredible, never seen nothing like it.

"Just a bad day. A bad day for the whole of Britain."

In signs of a backlash after the attack, more than 100 angry supporters of the English Defence League, a far-right street protest group, took to the streets, some wearing balaclavas and carrying the English flag. They were contained by riot police.

Separately, two men were arrested in connection with separate attacks on mosques outside London. No one was hurt.